Aaron Judge called a players’ only meeting for the Yankees earlier this week, and when he talked to the media about it on Friday, the slugger was candid about wanting to get things off his chest.
“Just some things on my mind, some things I’ve been seeing over the course of the year,” Judge said prior to the first game of the Subway Series.
According to Judge, the Yankees usually have a similar meeting around the All-Star break to evaluate things, but No. 99 wanted to get them out a couple weeks early.
“I felt like there were some things that couldn’t wait until the All-Star break to get brought up,” he said. “There were a lot of emotions, and I think overall, it was great for the team. It was a good time for a lot of us to be honest with each other.”
The Yankees entered Friday with a 41-39 record, sitting in fourth place in the AL East and well behind the Wild Card leaders almost halfway through the season. They lost two of three in an abbreviated series with the Angels – Thursday’s rained out finale was set to be the 81st game of the year – but with their playoff chances lower than 50/50 (44.8 percent per Fangraphs as of Thursday), Judge felt the need to let the team vent and get ready for both the Subway Series and a second-half run.
“Some things on our mind, some things guys have been hearing or thinking, and a chance to open up the floor for everybody,” Judge said.
“When you’re in a clubhouse, man, we’re all brothers in there, we’re family.
All the best teams I’ve been on, you’re able to say what you want to say to somebody and don’t let feelings get hurt.”
Judge wouldn’t divulge any specific info – only saying “we’ll keep it in the clubhouse, or else we’d be here a long time” – but would only reiterate he thought it was helpful.
“When you’re the one that calls the meeting, you gotta have something good to say,” he smiled. “But overall, I think it was good. A lot of good things were said, a lot of guys spoke up, and it was, I think, overall good for us. And sure enough, we’ve had better quality of games since then, so I think it’s going to help us in the long run.”
Manager Aaron Boone’s take on the meeting?
“I loved it. They got some things off their chest, and I think a lot of good things happened and hard conversations were had in that meeting,” Boone said. “We’re having a lot of those right now as a team, and hopefully, going through this will make us better as a team. Everyone is upset, because as much as our fan base expects, all of us in the clubhouse expect a ton, and we expect greatness. When we haven’t reached that point, or anything close to it, everyone is frustrated. We have to go out and do it, and that’s where we’re working hard to put a special run together.”
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